It Feels So Good to be Back

Revisiting the most enlightened place on earth (Candace)

When I stepped off the plane three years ago in Kathmandu, I was so tired. Not only had I been flying for nearly 24 hours, but my life was crumbling around me, and I literally had nowhere to go. So I came here.

I remember hopping in a cab with my new friend, Charlotte, and feeling overwhelmed by the crazy traffic of cars, motorcycles, busses, cows and dogs on the streets. But as I walked into our hotel on that first night, I remember meeting the smiling face of Bijey, and knowing that everything was going to be alright.

There is something magical about Nepal for me. Something so very raw and real here. It may be the perpetual sweet smell of the dust that is kicked up by the traffic, or the color of the prayer flags, lights and painted corrugated metal doors that line the streets, or the beeping of the motorcycles and booming beats of US rock music coming from the discos, but something about this place just screams that it is alive.

Unlike other places I’ve visited in the region (i.e. Mumbai and Abu Dhabi), the people here are so very happy. Poor, but happy. Everywhere you look, you’ll find a beaming smile directed back at you. And kindness is the universal language. I feel safe here.

And coming back now, three years later, is such a homecoming for me. My life has changed so radically for good, and I am so happy to come back to this magical place that welcomed me and held me three years ago. I can’t wait to share its magic with my beloved. And I am so eager to pour my newfound and overwhelming love back into its people.